Waker of Winds
by Sleepy-Kun
Summary: A steam-punk rendition of classic Legend of Zelda game Wind Waker. Boats are steam-powered sky-ships, islands are floating sky constructs, and Link is teen-link instead of classic toon-link.


**AN: **Hey there readers! Tis I, Sleepy-kun, writing yet another fic, though this time I wish it be finished, unlike Crossing Paths, which I apologize for neglecting. This is a LoZ Wind Waker steampunk-rewrite involving floating islands and sky-ships. While yes, most of the basic premise IS the same, it'll be steampunk, and I want there to be a speaking Link. Yes, a Link that can articulate conversation. Oh, and don't imagine Toon-Link either. I want, given the theme, an edgier teen-Link, reminiscent of the older iteration of Link from Ocarina. So without further ado,

_**Waker of Winds**_

**Bold: Loud**

_**Bold Italic: Game-text (like the intro or the location)**_

"_Quoted Italic": Thought._

_**This is but one of the legends of which the people speak...**_

_**Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden.**_

_**It was a prosperous land blessed with green forests, tall mountains, and peace.**_

_**But one day a man of great evil found the golden power and took it for himself...**_

_**With its strength at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom.**_

_**But then, when all hope had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand...**_

_**...a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere.**_

_**Wielding the blade of evil's bane, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light.**_

_**This boy, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time.**_

_**The boy's tale was passed down through generations until it became legend...**_

_**But then...a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom.**_

_**The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the hero...**_

_**...once again crept forth from the depths of the earth, eager to resume its dark designs.**_

_**The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them.**_

_**...But the hero did not appear.**_

_**Faced by an onslaught of evil, the people could do nothing but appeal to the gods.**_

_**In their last hour, as doom drew nigh, they left their future in the hands of fate.**_

_**What became of that kingdom...? None remain who know.**_

_**The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath.**_

_**On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age.**_

_**Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil.**_

_**The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend...**_

**The Isle of Outset:**

"Big Brother!"

A small girl, likely only of the age of ten or eleven, was shouting from the porch of a humble home, close to the edge of the Isle she lived upon, a brass telescope in her hands. Shaking her head, she began to run her way down the ramp and out onto the walkway as fast as her little legs would take her. Her bright blonde pigtails blowing in the slight breeze, she stopped, and looked through the telescope, observing the clouds occasional flocks of avian life around her, before making towards a tall tower that jutted slightly from the side of the floating isle. "Big Brother!" she repeated once she found herself perched atop the ladder.

"Whaaa…?" came the tired reply. As the boy who'd been awoken, likely the older brother in question, sat up and looked around to find nobody near the ladder, he assumed he was alone in the tower. Shrugging, he stood slowly, patting whatever dirt or dust from the aged wooden floors might have gotten on his faded, brownish-orange trousers, before stretching as he yawned, his loose gray-blue tunic rippling with the wind.

"I knew you'd be here!"

Startled by the familiar voice, the teen whips around, his golden blonde hair going from gently strewn by the wind, to sweeping with his motion, as his brown-and-black leather boat shoes clack slightly against the ground when he turns to face the voice's source.

"This is my favorite place to gaze out and into the sky," she begins with a giggle "When I play in the cloud-cover, I call it 'Aryll's Lookout.' So, do you remember what day it is today?"

"...hm?"

"You're still half asleep, aren't you?" she retorts to the sleepy boy's rather abysmal attempt at a response. "You didn't forget did you?"

"…"

"Big Brother, it's your birthday! That's why Grandma has been wait for you to come back to the house! She's been waiting for a while now, it's a good thing I came to find you! You should probably go home and see what grandma wants, don't you think?" she gushes, happily tilting her head.

"Alright, then." The boy simply replies, before stepping to the ladder and sliding down, releasing at the third to last rung and crouching gracefully as he lands. Shrugging and walking of back through the village, sighing as he is stopped by yet another talkative, unimportant random villager.

"Hoy, Link! It's your birthday!..." he began, before the bed-headed blonde boy began to tune him out, smiling wistfully at the sound of the wind brushing through the foliage the man had been standing in. Nodding, having heard something about possibly cutting the grass for this man, he makes his way across to the sky-bridge onto the small platform his grandmother's house resided on. As he did, he walked past a small boy who often stood there, mystified more by the waterfall to the left of the bridge, than the endless expanse of sky on the right. "_Weird kid,_" Link decided with a smirk.

"Hoy, Link! Is it true that if you have just a little courage, and run as fast as you can, you can get on that rock out there? Is it? Is it? Tell me!" He burst out, pointing out at three rocks with increasing distance between them. Link, able to make out sacks of rupees on the first and third platforms, laughed and nodded, taking a step back before leaping to pick up the blue bag on the first rock. Generally the blue sacks contained five, and this was no different. Turning on his heel as he hefted it, he leapt a second time, reaching the next rock with little difficulty, sliding as he turned and sprinted forward, leaping and landing with one foot on the edge of the third and lifted himself up. Grabbing the yellow coin-purse and counting the zinc coins within, he pocketed both and returned the way he came, throwing the child a thumbs up as he went past.

Now sure that he'd need to sprint to get home in some semblance of punctuality, the boy sprinted past the usual village weirdos, such as the man who is always stalking wild pigs, or the two wise brothers who taught him things like organizational skills and sword-play, between their bickering that is, and even that strange booger-nosed boy who always wandered around near Grandma's house. Finally reaching the house, he leapt up onto the porch and opened the door, casually strolling inside.

"Grandmother, I'm here!" he exclaimed, absent-mindedly fiddling with the piercing on his elven ear. Hearing a thump from the upper floor, he climbed up the ladder to see his the woman standing with a bundle in her hands.

"I've been waiting for you Link! Link, try these on" She began, "Time certainly flies, I can't believe you're already old enough to wear these clothes."

"Thanks Grandma," Link sighed, staring at the outfit now in his hands.

"Don't be so disappointed, dear one! Just try them on. Today is a day to celebrate! It is the day that you become the same age as the young hero spoken of in all the legends. You only have to wear them for one day, so don't look so down, be proud, child! In the olden days, this was the day boy were finally considered to be men. They were taught the ways of the sword to prepare them for battle with their enemies. Hanging the family shield on the wall as decoration is another tradition that has been carried down from those days." She lectured, before looking over at her grandson.

Link looked positively displeased, the dark forest green tunic, while tight-fitting like he'd prefer, was long-sleeved, something he disliked. The white under-shirt, which was at this point only visible at the v-neck of the tunic, was also long-sleeved, but of a lighter material and could just be rolled up. The green slouched-beanie cap wasn't much an issue, though a tad large for his head, and the belt was both a dark-brown leather he liked, and functional. The pants of the outfit, a white pair of tights, were absolutely awful, however, and his footwear left much to be desired. He figured he could just modify it later, and sighed, before noticing his grandmother was prepared to speak again.

"Isn't that nice, Link? They suit you perfectly! A perfect fit! Well tonight I'm inviting the whole town over for your party, so I should get started preparing, shouldn't I? I'm going to make you your favorite soup tonight! I just know you're looking forward to it! Now go, retrieve Aryll."She finished, waving the boy off.

The teen, now dismissed, leapt down from the upper floor and dug around the house, looking for the supplies he'd require to make the outfit presentable. After about half an hour's modification, he was glad quite impressed with his handiwork. Holding his long cap in place, he wore an old pair of flight goggles he'd acquired from the crewmembers of a skyship that'd docked on the isle before on his head, ready to be pulled down if they were needed. He'd found a few old leather aprons and fashioned them into a one-sleeved coat, which he left half-buttoned, the upper portion of his torso clad in crossing leather belts that buckled about half a foot beneath his clavicle. The right sleeve started with a mutli-layered shoulder, which narrowed at the elbow and had buckles all down the fore-arm, leaving a bit of white under-shirt exposed at the wrist, before being buckled into a fingerless glove fashioned from the sleeves of the tunic, which had been hacked down to the elbow. On the other arm, a large multi-buckle bracer was worn, and the white under-shirt was rolled up into a cuff around the opening of the tunic's sleeve, and the shirt had been hacked to match the v of the green garment, displaying about an inch beneath the Link's collarbone. His boots were replaced with brown heavy-leather workmen's boots that came about three inches beneath the knee, and buckled up the side, and he wore a belt around his right thigh, as well as a knee-bracer he'd fashioned from the remains of the apron on his left knee. He also wore two additional belts in a crossing fashion.

Smirking, now the epitome of both function and fashion, the boy set off at a light jog towards the tower he'd fallen asleep in, where he assumed Aryll would be playing yet again. Upon climbing the ladder and finding her, he simply smirked and leaned on the railing. "Aryll, come, Grandma wants you home for the party."

"Oh, Hoy big brother!" the girl responded, smiling, before her eyes went a little wide "That doesn't look like the Hero's Clothes that grandma made for you! But I guess they're pretty neat though. But first, Link, close your eyes and hold out your hand for just a second? I'm going to give you my most treasured belonging for one day!" she continued, waiting for her brother to close his eyes before placing her beloved telescope in his hands. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Do you like it? Try it out, right now! Look at our house, try it!"

"Alright Aryll, it's not like I'll see anything new, it's just our house…" Link began, before scoping in on the house with the telescope. "Just the post, as usual…" he observed, seeing the trained human-bird-hybrid delivering the mail, before it looked up and panicked.

"Link! Link! Look up, up in the sky!"

Tilting the scope upwards, he saw a large, dark, tin-looking winged beast in the sky, it's eyes glowing a menacing yellowish-orange, it's brass, multi-jointed tails whipping in the wind as it's wings flapped, and within it's talons, a girl about his age, as it flew high above the cloud-barrier, where no sane skyship would dare sail. Following it from just below this limit, though, was one, flying some sort of flag reminiscent of pirates as it fired a large canon after the beast, the hiss of steam accompanying each shot as the copper spheres of destruction flew in intervals of about four seconds. Each shot, however, was swiftly avoided, until the mechanized bot found itself being maneuvered into an expertly led shot and hit, falling from the sky and dropping the girl in it's custody deep within the dead woods atop a cliff created to shield the town from wind.

"Link, this is terrible, that poor girl fell into the forest!"

"Well, I could get her, ya know."

"But you need something to defend yourself with!" she called in response, sighing and shaking her head as she watched the boy leap from the tower and roll along the walk-way, already on his way to the town.

That boy was either going to end up a hero, or another dead fool like the rest of them.

**Aaaaaand, done! So, hopefully this is worth continuing, I had fun doing this, seeing as how much I freaking LOVED Wind Waker, and how much I love steam-punk. I know it's not TOO evident in anything but small details, and how Link's costume and character in general has changed at this point, but that's just because Outset Island is kind of basic and hard to magically transform. **


End file.
